The breaker box at my brother's house is well marked and balanced except when a breaker is tripped half the house goes out. I'm currently living on the third floor of his house. When I turned on a small fridge the room went out as well as the stairwell, hall light, kitchen (including a separately breaker-ed microwave) and basement lights. Could all of these be on one breaker?

My brother swears it wasn't always like that and that since an ugly divorce things have been done to the house. I always thought he was paranoid but I have seen a couple of things that make me wonder.

I have traced back and nothing jumps out at me, no Uh-Oh's. Reading before about neutrals being bundled together made sense.

Did you open the panel (carefully) and look to see if the wiring had maybe been reconfigured?
–
The Evil GreeboNov 20 '12 at 13:39

2

Is it a single breaker going, or are several tripping at once?
–
GdDNov 20 '12 at 13:48

1

If it is an older home then it wouldn't surprise me. They used to run many fixtures and receptacles to a single circuit in an unbalanced way because it was easier and cheaper. Also because back then there were far fewer appliances as there are now so the risk of tripping the breaker back then was negligible even with 8 receptacles and several fixtures all on a single circuit.
–
maple_shaftNov 20 '12 at 14:14

1

Are other circuits going out, or does it just happen that a lot of the house is on one breaker?
–
SteveNov 20 '12 at 14:15

How old is this house? 200A service? Is this 1/2 of the main power entry breaker (200A)?
–
Fiasco LabsNov 20 '12 at 15:33